Cells, Cells Baby! Cell Theory: Section 3.1 Students will describe developments that led to the cell theory. differentiate between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

Living things come in all shapes and sizes! Cells! Living things come in all shapes and sizes!

MAIN IDEA: Early studies led to the development of the cell theory. Cells: the smallest unit of living matter that can carry out all processes required for life. Prior to the 1600’s, people had many other ideas about the basis of life. Like many breakthroughs, the discovery of cells was aided by the development of new technology. What do you think?

Revisiting the Microscope Most cells are too small to see without it! Glass lenses had been used to magnify images for hundreds of years. The early lenses were not powerful enough to reveal individual cells. The invention of the compound microscope in the late 1500s was an early step toward this discovery. The Dutch eyeglass maker Zacharias Janssen, who was probably assisted by his father, Hans, usually gets credit for this invention. A compound microscope contains two or more lenses. Total magnification, the product of the magnifying power of each individual lens, is generally much more powerful with a compound microscope than with a single lens microscope.

Robert Hooke In 1665, the English scientist Robert Hooke used the three-lens compound microscope shown here to examine thin slices of cork. Cork is the tough outer bark of a species of oak tree. He observed that cork is made of tiny, hollow compartments. The compartments reminded Hooke of small rooms found in a monastery, so he gave them the same name: cells. FIGURE 3.1 Hooke first identified cells using this microscope. Its crude lenses severely limited the amount of detail he could see.

Anton van Leeuwenhoek Around the same time, Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch tradesman, was studying new methods for making lenses to examine cloth. As a result of his research, his single-lens microscopes were much more powerful than Hooke’s crude compound microscope. In 1674, Leeuwenhoek became one of the first people to describe living cells when he observed numerous single-celled organisms swimming in a drop of pond water. FIGURE 3.2 Hooke observed the cell walls of dead plant cells (left). In contrast, Leeuwenhoek observed and drew microscopic life, which he called animalcules, in pond water (right).

Hmmmmm……. As people continued to improve the microscope over the next century and a half, it became sturdier, easier to use, and capable of greater magnification. This combination of factors led people to examine even more organisms. They observed a wide variety of cell shapes, and they observed cells dividing. Scientists began to ask important questions: Is all living matter made of cells? Where do cells come from?

Matthias Schleiden & Theodor Schwann & The Cell Theory The German scientist Matthias Schleiden also used compound microscopes to study plant tissue. In 1838, he proposed that plants are made of cells. Schleiden discussed the results of his work with another German scientist, Theodor Schwann. Schwann was struck by the structural similarities between plant cells and the animal cells he had been studying. Schwann concluded that all animals are made of cells. In1839, he published the first statement of the cell theory, concluding that all living things are made of cells and cell products. This theory helped lay the groundwork for all biological research that followed.

Rudolf Virchow Schwann’s ideas had to be refined over the years as additional data led to new conclusions. Example: Schwann stated in his publication that cells form spontaneously by free-cell formation. Future scientists who studied the process of cell division, realized that this part of Schwann’s idea was wrong. In 1855, Rudolf Virchow, a German scientist, reported that all cells come from preexisting cells.

Cell Theory Contributors

Cell Theory Parts All of these scientists hard work and research can be summarized in the cell theory, one of the first unifying concepts developed in biology. The major principles of the cell theory are the following: • All organisms are made of cells. • All existing cells are produced by other living cells. • The cell is the most basic unit of life.

How many cells??? The variety of cell types found in living things is staggering. Your body alone is made of trillions of cells of many different shapes, sizes, and functions. They include long, thin nerve cells that transmit sensory information, as well as short, blocky skin cells that cover and protect the body. Despite this variety, the cells in your body share many characteristics with one another and with the cells that make up every other organism. In general, cells tend to be microscopic in size and have similar building blocks. They are also enclosed by a membrane that controls the movement of materials into and out of the cell.

Common Cell Structures Within the membrane, a cell is filled with cytoplasm. Cytoplasm is a jellylike substance that contains dissolved molecular building blocks—such as proteins, nucleic acids, minerals, and ions. In some types of cells, the cytoplasm also contains organelles, which are structures specialized to perform distinct processes within a cell. Most organelles are surrounded by a membrane. In many cells, the largest and most visible organelle is the nucleus, which stores genetic information.

Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells Cells can be separated into two broad categories based on their internal structures: prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. MAIN IDEA Prokaryotic cells lack a nucleus and most internal structures of eukaryotic cells.

Prokaryotic Cells do not have a nucleus or other membrane-bound organelles. the cell’s DNA is suspended in the cytoplasm. all prokaryotes are microscopic single-celled organisms.

Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus and other membrane bound organelles. the nucleus, the largest organelle, encloses the genetic information. may be multicellular or single-celled organisms.

Summarize What characteristics are shared by most cells? Most cells are microscopic in size, composed of similar building blocks, and are enclosed by a membrane that controls the movement of materials into and out of the cell.

Using the scrap paper provided… Your IC for the day! 1. How did improvements in the microscope help scientists form the cell theory? 2. How do prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells differ? 3. Compare In what way are cells similar to atoms?

IC Answers from October 28th How did improvements in the microscope help scientists form the cell theory? Improvements allowed scientists to see cells in greater and greater detail and enabled them to discover cells in all types of living matter. 2. How do prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells differ? Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles; prokaryotic cells do not. 3. Compare In what way are cells similar to atoms? Both are basic units, or building blocks. The atom is the basic unit of matter; the cell is the basic unit of living organisms.